Cultural Christianity: Mere Conditioning?

Growing up is a process we all experience, but not all of us grow up in our Christian faith. We get stuck in our cultural Christianity and the conditioned mindset it imparts. That’s how it was for me.

My parents were first generation Christians. I asked Christ to save me when I was young–at age seven–and my Christian experience thereafter was anything but smooth. We bounced around from church to church as my parents tried to find their way. Southern Baptists, Charismatics, Independents, Bible churches, Fundamentalists–the list goes on.

As we moved around the country, I went from public school to private Christian school; from New England to Deep South. I experienced churches where pastors embezzled money, had affairs, let their sons shag girls in the basement of the church. Despite all of this, I took my disillusionment to Christian college with the hopes of finding something real.

At college I challenged myself to ask the question why. Why do I believe what I believe?

I had listened to enough fallible men in my life to know that not everything a man said behind the pulpit was the word of God. I learned that Pastors could be sincere in what they believed, but upon further investigation of the scriptures, I also learned that these same men could be sincerely wrong.

At first I expected this realization to shatter my faith. My life felt fractured, as if the very foundation of all I knew was based on nothing more than shifting sand. The bible was supposed to be a rock, wasn’t it? Then why did so many men have so many different interpretations of that rock?

My faith had become a conditioned list of do’s and don’ts–but mostly don’ts. Somewhere along the line, I decided that I would rather be known for what I am for than what I am against. That is: Christ-like love.

This took my personal studies to a different level. I spent much time looking into the teachings of Jesus. As I did this, I began to notice that the words of Christ often stood in stark contrast to my cultural Christianity.

Do violence to no man, Jesus would say.
And somehow the preacher would defend the war in Iraq.

Have no other gods before me, required the Lord.
Yet at church we cover our hearts–hearts that belonged to God–and we would pledge allegiance to a flag.

I kept my personal reservations about these things to myself. I thought it better not to rock the boat. But as a history major, I began to transfer my view of Christ’s teachings upon the lens of history. I had been taught for so long about America’s goodness, and that to criticize her was not only unpatriotic, but tantamount to treason.

Around this time I was introduced to the libertarian movement. As such, my view of government turned increasingly skeptical, but so too did my demeanor toward cultural Christianity. I saw too much of a mixture. Too much “God & Country.” Too many “I Love America Sundays.” As if Christ would condone an “I Love the Roman Empire Worship Service.” As if Paul would fly the Imperial banner on the altar of the church.

Breaking free from this conditioned thought is empowering on an emotional, intellectual, and spiritual level. But with it comes hardship.

My endeavor to live a radical Christian life did not sit well with others. Specifically dissenting were my family and close friends who had not yet broken free from this conditioned mode of thought.

The cultural Christian holds fast to the moral sword of government. The radical Christian holds fast to the changing power of the gospel. Where the former seeks to compel compliance through force of violence, the latter evokes change through the saving grace of Christ. The radical realizes that in order to change society for the better, it must be done inside out. And if the radical really chooses to follow Christ, he must reject government as a means by which to effect that change.

When it came out that I was against the war on drugs, I took a lot of heat. When I said I didn’t want government defining what marriage was, I was called a Laodiciean. I was part of the moral decline of our country. I was a liberty-loving radical.

But so was Jesus. Now, whenever I hear these accusations, I smile, for it was Christ who brought the greatest liberty man would ever know.

Written by

Justin O'Donnell is a fiction writer who holds bachelor's degrees in history and English. He is currently pursuing an MFA in Professional and Creative Writing from Western Connecticut State University. When Justin isn't working on his novel, he enjoys blogging on a wide variety of topics, including religion, fitness, and politics.

4 comments

One of the things that I despise about the “cultural Christianity” you speak of is that it seems to operate under several false pretenses:

(1) pleasure and desire is inherently selfish, and since God’s desires are often perceived as conflicting with out desires, human desire is ipso facto bad and antithetical to God’s will

(2) independence should not be valued; otherwise, some independently-minded and active Christian may come to conclusions and views which may offend the good delicacies of the rest of the Christian community; we ALL know that this must be bad and contrary to the will of God (sarcasm)

(3) legalism, while not necessary for salvation, seems “wiser” and more selfless; and we all know that selflessness is a true hallmark of good Christians (though I am of the view that there can be a sublime selfishness and self-centeredness, and that altruism is not always the optimal course). After all, the only alternative to not throwing your Christian liberty in the face of others is a more legalistic personal lifestyle (e.g. no alcohol, no R-rated movies, no reading non-Christian or even anti-Christian literature).

It’s this cultural (often Southern and Protestant) “Churchianity” that i reject and find wrong. Then again, I am an individualist, so that’s that.

Justin,
I am unsure if you will get this, but I want to thank you for sharing and putting your thoughts out there for others, and myself, to read. I found myself letting out a huge breath of air that I seemed to have been holding in for a while. Your words are exactly what I have struggled with for years as well.
I am currently obtaining my Bachelor degree in Business and Restaurant Management, and I am working on a paper for my Sociology class on Agents of Socialization. My three biggest influences being; Family, religion, and workplace, as they are all very interconnected. I did a search on “Conditioned Christianity” for sources to site in my paper and found your post.
I too was raised in a very conditioned Christian environment and household, was homeschooled from 1st grade all the way through high school, and my first job at 16 was at a non-profit organization I got through, of course, church connections. In ’92, at the very young age of 9, is when I first had an experience that started my grappling with the paradoxes of faith and growing up I continually struggled with whether Christianity was still relevant in a post-modern culture. Of course, at that young, I did not know that is what it was, I just thought something was wrong with me, because I thought differently than the social norms of all Christians, and I questioned everything.
Additionally, with this struggle came the challenges of voting. For many years I never voted, to the disappointment and disapproval of my parents, because I didn’t know what I believed, and never identified with Republican or Democrat, but did somewhat identify more with the odd and very few, Libertarian party. Which everyone, of course, made it known that I was not only throwing my vote away, but also, as you say, “…am part of the moral decline of our country. I was a liberty-loving radical.”

Anyways, just wanted to say that I understand all too well of the struggles and hardships that you have shared here. Again, thank you for putting this out there. It is nice (a little selfishly) knowing I am not the only one.

I did receive your comment. It sounds like you have a lot more to say on this matter. I would love to talk with you some more, or perhaps set you up with the opportunity to write a guest post for us here. I’d like to continue this series.

I am glad this was a help to you and I wish you luck with your studies. Keep on keeping on.

Hi Justin,
I am so glad you received my comment and I would love to talk more about this too. Nice knowing someone has had the same experiences. Happy to hear you want to continue this series as well. I think that is a great idea.

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